Does a present bias influence exploratory choice?

Alexander S Rich, New York University

Todd M Gureckis, New York University

Abstract

Balancing exploration and exploitation is difficult, and across a
wide variety of situations under-exploration of uncertain alternatives appears
prevalent. We propose that one possible cause of under-exploration is present
bias, whereby immediate rewards (like those gained from exploitation) loom larger
than future rewards (like those gained from exploration). This possible cause of
under-exploration is not addressed by past studies, in which choices generally
yield token rewards that are converted to money at the end of the experiment,
removing the inter-temporal aspect of the decision-making process. To address
this issue, we developed an exploratory choice task with immediately-consumed
rewards. We then tested whether whether imposing a temporal delay before the
consumption of rewards increased exploration by decreasing present bias, and
report on our results.